RICS unpacks how the Church of England and its Bishop of Housing have ambitious plans to develop underused land into affordable and social housing, starting with Newbigin House in Birmingham.

If you missed our online event on Wednesday 14th Jan on the battle to deliver quality social housing in a time of acute financial and political pressures, then you can watch the recording here. In addition, you can access the slide presentations of all four speakers.

Bishop Guli responds to the government’s new homelessness strategy, concluding with: May our hearts be touched afresh by the plight of homeless families in our own communities, and may we, through prayer, compassion, and perhaps even sacrifice, put our faith into practice so that others can have a place to call home.

A new article by the Rural Community Council of Essex highlights how the Church may have the keys to unlock the provision of affordable rural housing.

The Archbishops Council Housing Project agreed to make a further 11 grants for local church housing initiatives, worth an average of £23,160 each. Grants were mainly for professional fees to examine the feasibility or viability of redevelopment projects that include the provision of affordable housing.

The Church Commissioners have been making a series of videos called Faith in our Future about their approach to sustainability across their land assets, the third of which focuses on their strategic development land.

The Bishop for Housing unpacked the theology behind the five core values in the Coming Home report at an event in Birmingham in October 2025. This document is the basis for her talk.

The Church of England’s lead Bishop for Housing has welcomed the government’s New Towns Task Force report, published on 28^th September. Bishop Guli points out that New Towns are a great opportunity for the Church to have a key role in placemaking in the new communities.

The Church Development Agency has published a design guide which takes the Five S values from the Coming Home report that describe good housing, and turned them into guidelines for architects and builders working on Church housing projects.

Report of the termly Church Housing event chaired by Bishop Guli, which explored the opportunities and challenges around using the Church of England's glebe land to provide affordable housing. Over 100 people participated, and guest speakers were Laura Atkinson, Kate Cortez, Sarah Outram and Bishop Hugh Nelson.

Bishop Guli was joined by members of the Archbishops Council housing project team to visit two churches that have received grants from the project to develop their proposals up to the pre-planning stage.

The 7th and final video in our series on how the housing crisis in Birmingham impacts local communities, explores how health often deteriorates when moving from your own home into temporary accommodation.

The URC North Western Synod has published a short guide for local churches about how to provide affordable housing. Although written in a URC context, the guide will be of benefit to local churches of any denomination who are interested in exploring this important opportunity for meeting the needs of local communities.

We are hosting the next online Coming Home update event with news and stories about the Church and affordable housing at 6pm on Wednesday 24th September, 2025. The focus for the evening will be glebe land and how to build affordable homes on it.

The sixth video in our series on how the housing crisis in Birmingham impacts local communities unpacks the damaging effects of housing instability in children’s lives.

The Archbishops Council Housing Project has approved the first round of grants for church housing initiatives, worth an average of £21,500 each. Grants were mainly for professional fees to examine the feasibility or viability of a church redevelopment project that prioritises the provision of affordable housing.

The fifth episode of this series on how the housing crisis impacts local communities in Birmingham shows how the acute shortage of family homes in the social rent sector is having a deep impact on families in the city.

The Archbishops’ Council Housing Project team recently visited Portsmouth as part of their wider engagement with parishes across the country. They are exploring examples of how church land and buildings can be creatively repurposed to meet local housing and community needs.

In the fourth episode of this series looking at how the housing crisis impacts local communities in Birmingham, Dan Mayes and Louise Jones highlight the range of community and support networks in place to help people in housing need.

Around 120 people attended this term’s Church Housing online event on 19th May, chaired by the lead Bishop for Housing, Guli Francis-Dehqani. Guest speakers included Aileen Evans, Beki Winter, Jamie Huard and Bishop Rob Wickham.